Spicy Braised Fish, Chow Mein and Spring Rolls are must-haves on the Lunar New Year table. The upcoming week-long Chinese holiday is known for its huge sums of money (about 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion)) for shopping and dining, as well as dragon dance parades. This year, a bigger-than-usual segment will go to a previously overlooked market: frozen food.

The upcoming festivities may be overshadowed by China’s worst Covid-19 outbreak in a big city since Wuhan, such as Xi’an. The Shanghai and Beijing governments have warned against travel. Eating out is increasingly risky.As extreme lockdown drags on, some residents in Xi’an complain shortage of food.

This partly explains the surge in the local frozen food company’s share price. On Friday alone, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic’s shares rose 20%, the daily limit. Peers ZTE Group, Joyvio Agriculture and Shandong Delisi Foods rose by a tenth against the broader market decline.

However, even after the holidays, demand for frozen meals is unlikely to ease. Beijing’s call for food stockpiling as early as November underscored the supply challenge. In the long run, China’s healthy, fresh food trends could take a hit from soaring inflation.

Local vegetable prices rose more than 30 percent in November, official data showed, adding to last month’s sharp rise. The price of eggs and fish has risen by a fifth. Frozen meals may be the government’s best way to achieve greater food security, despite a rebound in supplies in December. It could become an affordable prime option for some locals.

Shares of frozen food companies fell last year on a theory in China that the coronavirus was such products. In November, local port cities such as Dalian ordered all businesses dealing in frozen food to close. Now the situation has changed. The industry’s appetite is expected to be even greater this year.